Are You Scared Yet?
by Yami-sama42
Summary: An average night takes a turn for the worse when "the things that go bump in the night" becomes a very real concept for Sonic and Tails.


_Notes:_ The first 200 words or so of this was written over a year before the rest of it. It was originally intended to be a Halloween 2011 fic, but it ended up being left until now.

Moving away from that, the beginning of this story looks a little odd because I originally intended for this story to go in a different direction. I started typing without a plan and had to change what I was doing with it early on because of that. Thankfully, I didn't have to start over. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that's all I have to say beside Happy late Halloween everyone! No warnings here; no pairings, just a bit of brotherly fluff and fake scariness (I'm not good at scary, plus it's kind of light-hearted anyway). Please enjoy it even though it's nearly two weeks late!

Nice big shout out to my wonderful best friend and Keeper of My Heart Hikari-san42 for reviewing and beta'ing this so it's less horrible and more amazing.

**Are You Scared Yet?**

The night air was crisp and cool, the yellow and orange leaves floating in the wayward breeze. The stars twinkled overhead, the ripe, full moon basking the world below with an ethereal light. The scene was a peaceful one, the brisk October night calm.

Footsteps hitting concrete disrupted the stillness with a sense of anxiety, the air tingeing with fear.

Running. He was running; running for his safety, running for his life. They were after him, coming to get him, chasing him down a dark path of no return. Exhaustion. Restless. Panting for breath. Blind terror. He turned a corner, the leaves on the ground billowing up into a cloud of autumn color, the crunching sound as they landed the only sound – save his movement – that penetrated the silence.

His pursuer followed swiftly after, skidding across the ground, his dark coat thrown up by the air. "I warned you, didn't I? We all did. But did you listen?" The figure gave a sinister smile, eyes burning with sordid delight. He chuckled. "No, you didn't."

The runner made the mistake of turning around. Shortly after, he gave a scream, and then was silent.

Sonic yawned as he stopped the movie. Beside him, Tails was asleep, one of his tails wrapped around his chest, the other acting as his pillow. Glancing over, he grinned, scratching one of the oversized ears with his free hand. He then stood, covering the kit with a blanket before shutting the television off and tip toeing quietly up the stairs. He shut the door to the kitsune's room then continued to his own, kicking off his shoes and slipping under the covers afterwards. He was out as soon as his head hit the pillows.

o0o

A sharp crack woke him up several hours later, emerald eyes snapping open and the dark green blanket falling sideways onto the floor. He glanced around the dimly lit room before his eyes landed on the window, the curtains slightly drawn and showing off the outside world. Sonic crawled over to the edge of his bed and scooped his blanket up; standing and pulling it around him, he padded over towards the large bay window, ears twitching. Outside it was pouring and the wind was howling, darkly colored leaves whipping around in a frenzy. Another sharp crack echoed throughout the house, immediately followed by a thunderous roaring and then a tiny yelp from downstairs afterwards.

Coming back to himself quickly, Sonic turned and started for the door, one hand reaching for the light switch. He flipped it and frowned when nothing happened. Jiggling the tiny lever a few times, he grumbled and spun on his heels, heading towards a bookshelf that held random assorted knick knacks, music albums, choice books, photo albums, and movies. Reaching out, he grabbed a large flashlight, grinning triumphantly when it flared to life at his command.

Pulling his cocoon tighter around his shoulders with a tiny shiver, the hedgehog waved the flashlight around to scan the room before he moved out of his door and down the hallway. After checking Tails' room to make sure the fox hadn't gone in, he continued down the stairs, stepping silently with socked feet. Coming to the bottom of the stairwell, he turned the light towards the living room where he left the kit. "Tails…?" he ventured, approaching the doorway. Peering around the frame, he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Approaching the couch, Sonic let the beam sweep over the room, eyes shifting to follow it slightly.

Tails was curled up tightly in his light blue blanket, his eyes wide and petrified; he was shuddering violently and Sonic knew it wasn't from the chill of the room. He was terrified. The blue one knew that the fox would be too far gone into his stupor to notice him come into the room, so Sonic did was he hoped would be the least frightening; he stepped in front of the fox and shouted his name, one hand shaking the kit by the shoulder.

Tails yelped and jumped, but recovered quickly, his blue eyes catching those of his older brother. With trembling breaths, Tails scrambled up to his feet to hug the hedgehog, his blanket falling down around him. "I'm so glad you're here, Sonic. I thought something bad had happened to you," the fox mumbled into the hedgehog's shoulder.

"Now why would you think that? I know you don't like storms but it's nothing we're not used to." Sonic pulled the kit into his arms and sat next to the blanket on the couch, placing Tails on the seat beside him so the hedgehog could retrieve his source of warmth.

"I thought I heard something outside after the thunder woke me up," Tails explained, burying himself in the plush and snuggling into Sonic's side. "I… I got scared. Then there was lightning and more thunder and I couldn't move."

"Well you don't have to worry anymore because you're safe. Nothing's gonna happen—"There was a light tapping outside the window as Sonic's ear twitched toward the sound. "What was that?"

Tails' eyes grew wide and he clung to Sonic's side. "It's the noise again…" He locked onto green eyes. "I don't know what it is. We don't have any trees that close to the Workshop…" He trailed off and looked toward the origin of the sound, Sonic following his line of sight.

"Um…" Sonic's brow furrowed the longer he stared at the window, the dark curtain seeming to taunt him. "How about we go upstairs and try to get some sleep?"

Tails started nodding before abruptly stopping and glancing around Sonic. "Is that a flashlight?"

"Huh?" The hedgehog blinked and looked to his left where the heavy tool was sitting. "Oh, yeah. The power's out."

"The back-up generator switch is in the Workshop. I could go turn it on…" Tails trailed off, eyeing his older brother.

"Sure. It might help with how cold it is in here," Sonic agreed, standing and pulling Tails to his feet. "I'll go with you."

Tails nodded and squeezed his blanket close. "Good idea."

The two moved through the quiet house and made for the door to the Workshop in the kitchen, the large window on the far wall showing the continuing rainfall and wind. They opened the door, light spilling into the room on the other side, and stepped inside, Tails making a beeline for a switch on the far wall. When he was only halfway across the room, there was a crashing sound like a window breaking.

Tails froze in place, his twin appendages puffing up to thrice their natural size. He didn't dare to even twitch and rolled his gaze towards Sonic, the blue hedgehog still as well. Slowly, more slowly than Tails had ever seen him move in his entire life, Sonic shifted closer, his ears twitching and swiveling in every direction to try and pick up even the slightest sound. When the older of the two finally reached the younger, he snaked an arm free of his blanket and pulled the fox close.

"We need to get that switch quickly," Sonic whispered into Tails' large ears, "before—" He was interrupted by another crash, this one much closer to them and, consequently, the generator switch. Abandoning the prospect of electricity as a hopeless venture, Sonic twisted around, pulling Tails with him, and sprinted out of the workshop, slamming the door shut behind them and darting up the stairs to the fox's room. He released Tails, gave him the flashlight, and snuck into his own room, grabbing his shoes before returning to Tails.

The fox clutched the metal handle like a lifeline, his ears bent at the tips. "What do think it was, Sonic?"

The hedgehog shrugged, perched on the end of the bed to put his shoes on. "No idea, but I didn't want to take any risks. If whatever that was is hostile, there might be a fight and me without my shoes…" he trailed off before glancing at his friend. "I thought that glass was bullet proof?"

The kit nodded, aiming the light at the ceiling to let the illumination spread over a wider space. "It is. The only way to break it is to hit it with the force of a missile or with rapid cooling and heating."

"That doesn't sound good," Sonic murmured, gathering his blanket and tossing it onto the mattress. He shivered slightly, green eyes locking onto blue. "Alright. Let's go down there and—"

All of a sudden there was a fuzzy crackling sound that echoed throughout the room making Tails jumped. Sonic's ears twitched and flicked in every direction to try and pinpoint the source of the disturbance, the kit's own ears nearly flat. He turned his head around, the flashlight creating weird patterns when he moved, and gave a gasp of success when he spotted the little handheld radio sitting on his desk. The tiny screen was lit up but it only displayed static. Tails raised a brow in confusion before remembering why it was in his room to begin with. This particular radio was broken courtesy of a certain blue hedgehog and so Tails was trying to fix it back up. The screen had been shattered and speaker broken, but the casing remained relatively intact. It wasn't a hard fix, but the fox hadn't gotten round to it yet. Tails watched it curiously as nothing but white noise came out of the wrecked speaker and jumped when there was a sudden spike in the volume.

Just as suddenly as it turned on, it flickered off, the light on the screen finally giving up. The crackling gave way to whining and a high pitched pop before it fell silent, too. Tails was glad he'd flattened his ears or he was sure he'd have been half deaf. Sonic, on the other hand, wasn't quite so lucky and he now had a light headache and a ringing sound circling on his frayed nerves. The fox turned towards his brother and nonchalantly strolled over next to him, trying for the world not to look like that little episode had shaken him.

"Are you okay, Tails?" Sonic asked, shaking his head to rid himself of the constant buzzing. It didn't work and instead increased the pain in his skull, setting a scowl onto his face.

"I'm fine, Sonic." Blue eyes scanned the hedgehog, a light frown falling over a white muzzle. "Are _you_ okay?"

"Just a headache. I'll be alright." Green eyes blinked before a gloved hand grabbed the flashlight from a smaller one. "Let's go check out that noise downstairs, 'kay?"

Tails gave the light up without resistance and hesitated to follow, but soon nodded and moved close to his brother again, wrapping his blanket tighter around himself and grabbing Sonic's as well, opting to hold it to his chest instead of using it. The two crept downstairs, the smaller of the two giving a wince when a loud banging rang throughout the house. Sonic merely glanced backwards before he left the last step and started towards the kitchen, his flashlight a small beacon of hope in the dark and unusually frightening house. Tails caught up to Sonic and stood as close as he could without touching him as he watched the beam of light sweeping through the foyer and into the kitchen again.

There was a crash of lightning. It lit up the entire room and Tails couldn't help but whip around to stare at the large windows. A second later he wished he hadn't as he saw a silhouette of a large Mobian standing on the other side of the glass. He let out a gasped scream and grabbed Sonic, terror ripping through his veins.

"S-Sonic! There's someone outside!" Tails whimpered and pointed towards the source, his blue eyes wavering.

Sonic's brow furrowed and a frown etched onto his face as he turned his light in the indicated direction, grip steady. Through the glare of light on the glass, he could tell there was in fact someone out there, though who or what they were remained a mystery.A look of determination came onto Sonic's face and he shoved the flashlight into Tails' hands, the trembling little fox nearly dropping the heavy tool.

"What— What are you doing, Sonic?" Tails asked, his voice small.

"I'm going to give whoever that is a piece of my mind," Sonic told him, green eyes hard. He stalked over to the side door in the kitchen and threw it open harshly, forgetting about the wind and rain. He lifted an arm to cover his eyes and went out into the storm, pulling the door shut behind him and fully intending to drag the stranger inside by his or her tail.

Tails waited anxiously inside for five minutes before Sonic kicked the door open, looking over to the kit. "Get me a couple towels, will you?"

The fox blinked once before giving a firm nod and disappearing into the house, returning quickly with two fluffy towels. Handing one off to Sonic, he had to stop and double take when he took in their impromptu visitor. "_Knuckles_!?"

The red echidna grunted and yanked the towel away from Tails, shivering and soaked to the bone. He wrapped himself up in it and buried his face inside the cloth, stifling a cough and giving a harsh sniff.

Sonic tapped him on the shoulder, gesturing to the chair he pulled up when his friend turned around. "Go on and sit down, Knux." Sonic held his own towel around himself and walked up to Tails, wrapping an arm around the kit. "Let's go get that generator on, yeah?"

Tails nodded and they went off, leaving Knuckles shivering in the chair and struggling to pull heat from the fuzzy covering. He blinked sharply when suddenly there was light, the small kitchen lit up with bright florescent bulbs. The guardian sneezed once as Sonic and Tails came back into the room, the hedgehog putting the flashlight on the counter.

"Knuckles," he called, grabbing the echidna's attention. "How about we go sit in the living room? Tails offered to make hot chocolate." Tails scoffed at that but turned to do so, shoving the blankets at Sonic. He ran the towel over his head quills once more to make sure he was completely dry before wrapping up in his blanket and walking out of the kitchen.

Knuckles gave another sniffle that turned into a small cough and blue eyes glanced over. The red one ignored the look and followed the blue one.

"Here." He held out a dark purple blanket to the echidna, the one the guardian had previously claimed as his own, and he gave a nod before taking it and wrapping tightly up in it.

Several minutes later, all three were seated in the living room, hot chocolate in each of their hands. Taking a sip and setting his mug down, Tails looked over at Knuckles, a look of confusion on his face. "Why were you creeping around outside, Knuckles?" he asked, watching as his friend took large gulps of the hot beverage.

"Was gonna show up earlier today but Angel Island got blown off course. Had to land her somewhere close by and get here on foot. Storm started along the way. Was smart enough to grab my radio but it didn't work. Didn't realize how late it was." The response was short and clipped, the tone curt and with an air of finality.

Sonic scrunched up his face in displeasure. "Why'd you make your way here to begin with?"

"Invited me, remember?" Knuckles turned indigo eyes to the hedgehog, the look enough to level mountains.

"Oh!" Tails exclaimed, face brightening. "That's right, we did! We didn't expect you to show up until tomorrow, though… or is it later today…?" The kit trailed off before smiling again. "Anyway, Happy Halloween Knuckles!"

Knuckles grunted as he finally realized why he'd dragged himself to the Mystic Ruins to begin with. "You still like that dumb human holiday?"

"It's not dumb!" Sonic defended, pointing a finger in Knuckles' face. "It's fun! You get to dress up like something you're not and go around asking for candy! Tails and I used to go trick-or-treating all the time and we were thinking that the three of us could go together this year."

"Isn't that activity for young children?" the guardian asked, taking another gulp of his cocoa and swatting the finger from his face.

"It doesn't _have_ to be," Sonic muttered, crossing his arms. "Besides, no one judges you on Halloween because nobody cares. I could walk around as myself for Halloween and probably still get candy. Someone's bound to think I'm just dressed up as myself."

"C'mon, Knuckles, please? It'll be fun!" Tails pleaded, giving Knuckles his best wide eyed stare.

Knuckles broke easily under the extra persuasion and Sonic suspected that he'd been outside in the rain too long. "Fine, I'll go. But you two owe me."

"Awesome!" Sonic's face broke into a wide grin. "All you need now is a costume… Luckily for you, we love Halloween so we have plenty of them hanging around in boxes somewhere… But I think we've had enough excitement tonight." Sonic stood and finished off his drink, setting the cup on the end table. "What say we all get some sleep?"

"That sounds like one of your more sensible ideas, hedgehog," Knuckles agreed, stretching his arms above his head. He downed the last of his own hot chocolate and sighed. "I'm exhausted."

"I'll bet," Tails conceded, collecting the empty mugs and starting for the kitchen to set them in the sink.

Sonic yawned widely then cracked his back, muscles relaxing and his lids drooping over tired emerald eyes. "Sleep is such a lovely thing."

"Yeah, well you're just lazy," Knuckles jabbed, a smirk gracing his face.

Sonic gave him a playful punch. "I'm not. Just look at me- I wouldn't look half this perfect if I was that lazy."

Knuckles shoved him lightly, his large hands curling into fists afterwards. "Arrogant hedgehog," he snapped through a grin.

"Gullible echidna," Sonic teased back, not at all phased from the push.

"Guys, please. It's too late for this," Tails whined as he came back into the room. "Let's go, Sonic. Knuckles needs to sleep, too."

"Whatever then." Sonic yawned again and made for the stairs, Tails leading the way. "Goodnight, Knuckles, and Happy Halloween."

"Sweet dreams, hedgehog." Knuckles shifted so he was lying comfortably on the large couch. "Hmph. And Happy Halloween."

_Finally it's over. That took way too freaking long and I started hating by the end there. I seriously wanted this to be done with. Akfgaofolagfowue Review pls?_


End file.
